All 6-foot-10, 292 pounds of Miami basketball pride glowed. Maybe 20 minutes earlier, he was being mobbed by teammates just inside PNC Bank Arena. He jawed a little with the NC State students, but there was that smile.

His season was back on track. Miami's dream year continued.

Johnson's left-handed tip-in with 0.8 left in game helped the Hurricanes a 79-78 escape with a win in front of a sold-out NC State crowd of 19,557. It gave him 15 points — 13 after halftime — and No. 14 Miami its ninth straight win.

"I just went to the fans, like 'We did it,'" a still grinning Johnson said. "`I appreciate y'all. Thanks for coming out. Go back home now.'"

Miami (17-3, 8-0) moved further into uncharted territory with the wild comeback from down 10 in the second half. It was the program's first win in Raleigh and snapped No. 19 NC State's 13-game home winning streak — its longest in nine seasons.

And for the first time in program history, the 'Canes completed the Raleigh-Durham triple crown of beatingDuke, North Carolina, and NC State in the same season.

More importantly, it kept Miami well ahead in the ACC standings. It's two games ahead of second-place Duke and potentially on the verge of the program's first top 10 ranking since 1999.

That wouldn't be the case if it weren't for Johnson's second half explosion just down the road from his Winston-Salem, N.C., hometown. He was 5-for-7 from the field and 3-for-4 from the line as his post-injury slump ended in a big way.

UM coach Jim Larranaga, who was all smiles himself walking to the bus, said it was Johnson who changed up Miami's sleepy offense. The Hurricanes needed some kind of spark. Their shooters were a combined 3-for-21 from 3-point range, so the answer wasn't on the perimeter.

"I couldn't even communicate with the guys," Larranaga said. "They changed that on their own and once we got it inside, Reggie got it going and they knew we should keep going to him."

So Johnson and Miami's Julian Gamble made it a slug fest. They combined to score 14 of 16 points in a crucial second half run. UM outscored the hosts 16-2 in a 4-minute span after falling behind by 10.

Gamble, a Durham, N.C., native, finished with 16 points, but the story was Johnson's return to imposing form. In the three games since returning from a broken thumb, he was 2-for-14 from the field. By halftime it was 3-for-17 with an airballed 3-pointer that drew even more jeers from the jacked-up crowd.

So the Hurricanes turned to Johnson in his natural environment. Miami ultimately scored 50 of its 79 points in the painted area while making 27-of-41 (66 percent) shots from inside the arc.

Durand Scott actually led the team with 18 points and he helped key some of the late defensive moves Miami needed to win. The deficit was five with less than two minutes left when Scott got a steal and two free throws. Then a Shane Larkin steal led to a Scott layup all within 12 seconds.

The Wolfpack lead was 78-77 when Kenny Kadji rebounded a Tyler Lewis missed jumper with 16 seconds left. Larranaga drew up the play for Larkin, but the runner rimmed out.